St. Landry democrat., 1887-12-17

Efforts to reform the present COnult1on Deen
resisted by those of our tellow-citizens thus
engaged that they can hardly complain of
| the suspicion, entertained to a certain ex-
| tent, that there exists an organized combl-
nation all along the line to maintain their
| advantage.
| We are in the midst of centennial celebra-
| tions, and with becoming pride we rejoice in
| American skill and ingenuity, in American
energy and enterprise, and in the wonderful
natural advantages and resources developed
| by century's national growth. Yet when
an attempt is made to justify scheme which
permits tax to be laid for the benefit of our
manufacturers, quite beyond reasonable
demand for governmental regard, it suits the
| purposes of advocacy to call our manutac-
lures infant industries still needing the
highest and greatest degree of favor and fos-
terlng care that can be wrung from Federal
| legislation.
It is also said that the increase in the price
ofdomestic manufactures resulting from the
| present tariff is necessary in order that
higher wages may be paid to our working
men employed in manufactures than are
paid for what is called the pauper labor of
| Europe. All will acknowledge the force of
an argument which involves the welfare and
| liberal compensation OF our labOrlng people.
| Our labor is honorable in the eyes Of every
American citizen and as it lies at the fOunda-
ton of our development and progress it is
entitled, without affectatiOn or hypocrisy, to
the utmost regard The standard of our
laborers' life should not be measured by that
| of any other country less favored, and they
are entitled to their full share of all our ad-
vantages.
BY the last census it is made to appear that
of the 1872, ,099 of our population engaged
| in all kinds of industries 900, 493 are EN-
ployed in agricultural, 4,074, 238 in profes-
sional and personal service 1884, S76 of
whom are domestic servants and laborers),
OK Il
| transportation, and 3, .ll2 are classed as
employed in manufacturing and mining.
But the reduction of taxation demanded
| should be so measured as not to neceSsltate
or justify either the loss of employment by
| the Wor. ,,man nor the leSSenlng OF his
Ref RFes S neeenatV Fsm4nps pssaG 5G he
ment, should furnish no excuse for the sac
| ritice of she interest of his employees
either in Hportunity to work or in the di-
minution VI their COMPENSATION; Nor can
the worke'h in manufactures fail to under
| stand thaNhhile high tariff is claimed to
| be necessary to allow the payment of re-
very largeahcrease in the price Of nearly all
sorts of manufactures. which, in almost
countless forgAS, he needs for the use of him
self and his Alily. He receives at the desk
of his employer his wages and perhaps be-
| fore he reaches his home is obliged, in pur-
tLdSH LOT IdillIIt ISt Vi tiCIt Will
braces AlS own labor to return IN IN the the pay,
| ment GH1he increase in price which the tariff
permits the hard-earned compensation OF
many days of toll.
| The farmer and the agriculturist who
manufacture nothing, but who pay the in
| creased price which the tariff imposes, upon
every agricultural implement, upon all he
wears and upon all he uses and owns ex-
cept the increase Of his tiocks and herds and
| such things as his husbandry produces from
the soil, is invited to aid in maintaining the
present situation, and he is told that high
duty on imported wool is necessary for the
! benefit of those who have sheep to
shear, in order that the price of their wool
may be increased. They, of course, are not
reminded that the farmer who has no sheep
is by this scheme obliged, in his purchases
of clothing and wooden goods, to pay tribute
to his fellow-farmer as well as to the manu-
facturer and merchant; nor is any mention
made of the fact that the sheep-owners them
selves and their households must wear
clothing and use other articles manufactured
from the wool they sell at tariff prices and
| thus as consumers must return their share
of this increased price to the tradesman.
| think it may be fairly assumed that a
large proportion of the sheep owned by the
| farmers throughout the country are found
in small fiocks numbering from twenty-five
| to fifty. The duty on the grade of imported
wool which these sheep yield is ten cents
each pound if of the value of thirty cents
| or less and twelve cents if of the value of
more than thirty cents. If the liberal es-
innate of six pounds be allowed for each
| fleece, the duty thereon would be sixty or
| seventv-twO cents. and this may be taken
as the utmost enhancement of its price
to the farmer by reason of this duty.
Eighteen dollars would thus represent the
| increased price of the wool from twenty-five
sheep, and at S36 that from the wool of fifty
sheep, and at present values this addition
would amount to about One-third of its
price. If upon its sale the farmer receives
| this or less tariff profit, the wool leaves his
hands charged with precisely that sum,
which in all its changes will adhere toit, I'M
| til it reaches the consumer. When manu-
factured into cloth and other goods and ma
terial for use its cost is not only increased to
| the extent of the farmers tariff profit, but a
| further sum has been added for the benefit
of the manufacturer under the operation of
| other tariff laws. In the meantime the day
arrives when the farmer finds it necessary to
| purchase woolen goods and material to clothe
himself and family for the winter. When
| he faces the tradesman for that purpose he
discovers that he is obliged not only to return
in the way of increased prices, his tariff
| profit on the wool he sold, and which then
| perhaps lies before him in manufactured
| FORM but that he must add a considerable
| sum thereto to meet further increase in cost
caused by tariff duty on the manufacture
Thus in the end he is aroused to the fact that
he has paid upon moderate purchase, as a
result of the tariff scheme, which. when he
sold his wool seemed so profitable, an in
crease in price more than sufficient to sweep
away all the tariff profit he received upon
the wool he produced and sold.
When the number of farmers engaged in
| wool-raising is compared with all the farm
ers in the country, and the small proportion
they bear to our population is considered; !;
when it is made apparent that, in the case
Of large part of those who own sheep, the
benefit of the present tariff on wool is illu-
sory and, above all, when it must be con-
ceded that the increase of the cost of living
caused by such tariff becomes burden upon
those with moderate means and the poor,
the employed and unemployed the sick and
WELL and the young and old, and that it con-
stitutes a tax which, with relentless grasp, is
fastened upon the clothing of every man,
woman and child in the land, reasons are
suggested why the removal or reduction of
this duty should be included in a revision OF